We are pleased to report that Freehill Partners John Karpousis and Will Yost have secured a summary judgement victory in a serious construction accident case in state court. In the matter of Mejia v. Super P57 LLC et. al., Judge James D ’Auguste of the New York Supreme Court, New York County issued a decision granting summary judgment and dismissing the plaintiff’s Labor Law 200, 240(1), and 241(6) claims against our clients, a general contractor and property owner. Plaintiff allegedly sustained severe personal injuries requiring multiple shoulder, neck, and back surgeries after allegedly falling from a scaffold at a construction site in an unwitnessed accident. Working closely with a scaffold and construction site expert, we convinced the court there was no evidence that the subject scaffold, or its guardrail system, broke, collapsed, malfunctioned or otherwise failed to function as intended, and that any finding in plaintiff’s favor therefore would necessarily be improperly based on speculation.
See Justice D’Auguste’s decision here.
Plaintiff has appealed the decision to the Appellate Division – First Judicial Department, and we are currently working to defend the appeal.